Newsletter September 2016energyaccess.org/wp...Newsletter-September-2016.pdfNewsletter September...
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Newsletter September 2016 From the United Nations Foundation Dear Friends, Last week’s annual opening of the UN General Assembly in New York, as always, was a blur of high level pronouncements and activity. Of particular interest was the discussion in many different places about how the UN system could help align national policies and mobilize private investment for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – including Goal 7, to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.” This is a time of transition – from adoption to implementation of the SDGs and the related commitments made last year as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement on climate change. The transitions will continue this fall with the election of a new UN SecretaryGeneral and a new U.S. President. The outgoing SecretaryGeneral, Ban Kimoon, has shown remarkable leadership on issues of energy and climate change, and it was fitting that he could announce – at an event he organized last week at the UN – that 60 countries had formally joined the Paris Agreement, five more than the minimum to bring it into force. Also required is the participation of countries representing 55% of global emissions, and with the announcement by Prime Minister Modi that India would ratify the Agreement on October 2, that objective is almost certain to be achieved later this year – most likely by the time of the 22 nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which convenes in Marrakech on November 7. Rachel Kyte, the indefatigable CEO of Sustainable Energy for All and Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral, was everywhere in New York last week, building support for aggressive action on
Transcript of Newsletter September 2016energyaccess.org/wp...Newsletter-September-2016.pdfNewsletter September...
Newsletter September 2016
From the United Nations Foundation
Dear Friends,
Last week’s annual opening of the UN General Assembly in New York, as always, was a blur of highlevel pronouncements and activity. Of particular interest was the discussion in many different placesabout how the UN system could help align national policies and mobilize private investment forimplementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – including Goal 7, to “ensure access toaffordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”
This is a time of transition – from adoption to implementation of the SDGs and the related commitmentsmade last year as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement on climatechange. The transitions will continue this fall with the election of a new UN SecretaryGeneral and a newU.S. President.
The outgoing SecretaryGeneral, Ban Kimoon, has shown remarkable leadership on issues of energyand climate change, and it was fitting that he could announce – at an event he organized last week atthe UN – that 60 countries had formally joined the Paris Agreement, five more than the minimum tobring it into force.
Also required is the participation of countries representing 55% of global emissions, and with theannouncement by Prime Minister Modi that India would ratify the Agreement on October 2, that objectiveis almost certain to be achieved later this year – most likely by the time of the 22nd Conference of theParties (COP 22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which convenes in Marrakechon November 7.
Rachel Kyte, the indefatigable CEO of Sustainable Energy for All and Special Representative of theSecretaryGeneral, was everywhere in New York last week, building support for aggressive action on
Goal 7. At a meeting of investors and philanthropies convened by the UN Foundation with theRockefeller Foundation and Wallace Global Fund, she urged the participants to direct their grants andinvestments to enable global achievement of Goal 7 more rapidly – and thereby support achievement ofall of the SDGs.
Clare Boland Ross of the Rockefeller Foundation reported on the outcomes of their investment in minigrids in India – 93 so far in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh – which are transforming rural lives, reducing theuse of kerosene and diesel, and improving the safety, mobility, and wellbeing of women and children.Sam Parker of the Shell Foundation similarly reported on their support to communityscale “rural utilities”in Africa.
A key question now is how to scale up success, in part through greater standardization of businessmodels as well as financing. Practitioner Network members shared their observations in this regard:Ryan Levinson of SunFunder and Jacqueline Novogratz of Acumen discussed their approach –aggregating many small projects into investment vehicles that have the size and diversification neededfor investors – and Dan Schnitzer of SparkMeter discussed the value of standardized agreements foreasier replication in the context of microgrids in particular.
Nor was this the only discussion of investment and finance during the week. This summary report linksto others. This is a special time of opportunity for energy access, as more and more people recognizethe need and benefit of action and as investors come to realize that such projects can provide safe andreliable returns. At the UN Foundation, we hope to build on that interest and momentum.
Sincerely,
Reid DetchonVice President, Energy & Climate StrategyUnited Nations Foundation
Launch of FirstEver Global LEAP Awards OffGrid Refrigerator Competition The Global LEAP Awards competition for offgrid refrigerators has been launched with a significant andexplicit focus on innovation, offering up to $600,000 in innovation cash prizes for marketleading offgridrefrigeration technology and design. $30 Million Expansion of USIndia Partnership to Advance Clean EnergyBuilding on its strong international partnerships to accelerate grid modernization, research anddeployment, the US Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability recentlyannounced a new Funding Opportunity for joint research on smart grid and energy storage under theUSIndia Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research (PACER). Power Africa Launches new Partnership with Japan on Sustainable Energy Development inAfricaPower Africa recently announced a new partnership arrangement with the Government of Japan withthe aim of reducing energy poverty and increasing access to sustainable energy in subSaharan Africa.The Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) includes commitments to share strengths, expertise andresources in an effort to accelerate access to renewable energy in Africa.
Extension of the PACESetter Fund Submissions | New Deadline October 12 WISIONS 2016 SEPS Call for Exchange Activity Proposals | Deadline October 17 DIV Rolling Expression of Interest (EOI) Form Available The Ashden Awards Now Open for Entries| Deadline November 8
d.light Raises Over $22 Million to Expand payasyougo Business Into New Markets Partners BBOXX Closes $20 Million Fundraising Round Acumen and GCF Sign $25 Million Agreement to Bring Household Solar Energy to East Africa Off Grid Electric Secures $18 Million in Funding Azuri Now Using Artificial Intelligence for Solar Home Systems in Africa MKOPA now Providing Kenya's OffGrid Residents with SolarPowered TVs SunFunder Moves to new Model of Financing Energy Access Projects
Launch of the Micro/Mini Hydropower Library (MHL)The Hydro Empowerment Network (HPNET) and energypedia have launched this Library containingpublications on mini and micro hydropower on topics ranging from technology and policy to people andthe environment for South and Southeast Asian countries.
IFC Unveils Web Portal to Support Renewable MiniGrids in TanzaniaThe International Finance Corporation (IFC) has launched an online portal to support the developmentof renewable energypowered minigrids in Tanzania. The portal is designed to help small, renewablepower producers that want to sell electricity to the millions in the country who do not have access to themain grid. It contains various information about such topics as financing and the permits required todevelop and operate a minigrid in Tanzania, as well as a tool mapping villages and providing data ontheir populations and current electrification status. Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy CentresUNIDO coordinates the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres in cooperation withvarious regional economic communities and organizations such as the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable
Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and the SADC Centre for Renewable Energy and EnergyEfficiency (SACREEE).
Member Spotlight: Daniel Kammen
Daniel Kammen is Professor in the Energy and ResourcesGroup, and in the Goldman School of Public Policy, and inthe Department of Nuclear Engineering; and is FoundingDirector, Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory,University of California, Berkeley.
Two interlinked challenges of sustainability define ourenergy future: the persistence of widespread energypoverty and intensifying humandriven climate disruption.These crises are inexorably linked through the energytechnology systems that have so far provided the vastmajority of our energy: biomass and fossil fuels. Both theenergy service crisis and the climate crisis have becomeincreasingly serious over the past decades, even though wehave seen greater clarity about the individual and socialcosts that each has brought to humanity.
Photo Credit: Daniel Kammen
GreenBizHow Business can Drive Energy Access for All
TechmoranNew Cheap Electricity Initiative to Target LowIncome Consumers in Africa
The TribuneUSAID with GE to Improve Standards in IndianSolar Industry
The GuardianInvesting in OffGrid Renwables in the DevelopingWold: What you Need to Know
Welcome to the followingorganizations that have joined thePractitioner Network in the pastmonth:
BangladeshAid Sun Power (ASP)Rentec Solar Limited
Burkina FasoCB Energie
ColombiaUniversidad del ValleINOXPROY S.A.S.
iiedFour Challenges to Powering Local Economies
Clean TechnicaReducing Energy Poverty not Only for Solar andImpact Investors
World BankHow can we Afford not to Provide Power WhenCountries are Fragile?
GSMAInvestment in OffGrid MobileEnabled UtilityServices
Green Tech MediaAre we Really Solving Global Energy Poverty orJust Preserving the Status Quo?
Sustainable Energy for All Sustainable Energy for All Strategic Framework forResults 201621: Going Further, Faster Together The World Bank Toward Universal Access to Clean Cooking andHeating: Early Lessons from the East Asia and PacificClean Stove Initiative ADB InstituteFinance for Micro, Small, and MediumSizedEnterprises in India: Sources and Challenges GSMAMobile for Development Utilities Feasibility Study Assessing the Opportunity for Payasyougo Solar inPakistan Bloomberg, Chatham House, FSUNEP, Collaborating CentreFinance Guide for PolicyMakers: Renewable Energy,Green Infrastructure 2016 Update The World BankIndependent Power Projects in SubSaharan Africa Lessons From Five Key Countries International Energy Agency (IEA) Next Generation Wind and Solar Power
DenmarkGreen Dealflow
EnglandCreativEnergie
KenyaInternational Organization forMigrationNobeah Foundation
IndiaCygni Energy Private LimitedOmnicom Power
NigeriaDG
ScotlandScene
South AfricaAltGen Recruiting
SpainMRC ConsultantsZahra Energy
United StatesHawaii Center for AdvancedTransportation TechnologySextant FoundationSolar Head of StateSuraj Energy LLC
UgandaEnergy Systems Limited
EuroSun 2016
October 1114, 2016Palma de Mallorca,Spain
Global SourcesElectronics
October 1114, 2016Hong Kong
Powering Africa:Nigeria 2016
October 1316, 2016Abuja, Nigeria
IEEE GlobalHumanitarianTechnologyConference
October 1316, 2016Seattle, USA
6th Nigeria AlternativeEnergy Expo (NAEE2016)
October 1921, 2016Abuja, Nigeria
Inersolar India 2016
October 1921, 2016Mumbai, India
InternationalPhotovoltaic Scienceand EngineeringConference (PVSEC26)
October 2428, 2016Singapore
4th Annual Symposiumon Ocean ThermalEnergy Conversion(OTEC)
October 2526, 2016The Netherlands
Sub Saharan AfricaPower Summit 2016
October 2628, 2016Cape Town, South Africa
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